luxe has long been known as the place to go if you like the fare at Est! Est! Est!, but would rather a more regularly affordable option. With the opening of luxe cellar next door it’s become more of a wine focus than ever before. There’s an unashamed but carefully chosen Victorian bias to the selection, which is neither too large and unnavigable nor affected by the ‘me too’ phenomenon that is homogenising so many Australian wine lists. It’s more of a smart cafe list, a real wine buff’s hangout, with good focus on its owners’ enthusiasm for things Tuscan and Rhone Valley in origin. I like the idea that you can walk in and drink a twelve year-old Yeringberg Marsanne or Bannockburn Chardonnay, a 1992 Mount Mary Quintet at reasonable prices or, on the other hand, a Perrin Cotes du Rhone 1997 for little more than a song.
